How did you become a Spander reader/writer?

[darkhavens]

gacked from spikeswilngslav in bloodclaim:

01. What was the first Buffy ep you ever saw?

02. Was Spike or Xander the reason you kept watching?

03. If not, who/what was?

04. How did you feel about Spike and Xander when you first watched?

05. How did you discover Fanfic, and what was your first?(Author,title,pairing ,rating?)

06. If your first was het, then what was your first slash? How did you switch?

07. Who was your original OTP? (Be honest guys. Some of us were spuffys)

08. How or what made you switch to Spander?

09. What was your first Spander fic?

10. What is your all time favorite Spander fic?


My Answers

01. What was the first Buffy ep you ever saw?
The first buffy ep I ever saw was... the first Buffy ep ever screened on British terrestrial TV - S1:1. I was/am interested in vampires, and when I read the write-up in my TV magazine I was curious and made a point of tuning in.

02. Was Spike or Xander the reason you kept watching?
Well, Spike didn't appear until S2, and Xander was kinda goofy (except in The Pack, and dammit, wouldn't you know it, I missed that ep first time round!).

03. If not, who/what was?
I have to say I was in it for the general vampiness of the show, and I thought Angel was decent eyecandy and I've always loved ASH so... I just kept watching.

04. How did you feel about Spike and Xander when you first watched?
When Spike stepped out of that DeSoto and lit up I went to a happy place. Xander took longer to grow on me, mainly because I missed seeing hyena!Xander, but I loved his humour and the 'hurt me' vibe he seems to put out all the time.

05. How did you discover Fanfic, and what was your first?(Author,title,pairing,rating?)
An online friend was writing a Harry Potter fic, starring Lucius Malfoy and an OFC in a D/s relationship. I'd never read fanfic before at all, but I was curious, so, as a) I love reading and b) she is a friend, I went and read and enjoyed and commented, and ended up betaing several chapters for her. (The journal this was stored in has since been deleted, and my memory will not provide me with the title, though I can tell you it was definitely NC-17.)

06. If your first was het, then what was your first slash? How did you switch?
Once that I finished with the above-mentioned fic, my curiosity got the better of me and I did a search for fanfic in LJ. The Buffy fic seemed very prolific so I followed a link (sadly lost to memory) to a page containing a link to alexandriabrown's fic. The very idea of Spike and Xander getting groiny was enough to send me into hysterical laughter, but once I'd regained control I went for a quick read, thinking it would be oh-so-very-bad and completely unbelievable.

A few pages into 'Waiting Here' and I was hooked: in tears and in love with the pairing and the genre. Slash was the new chocolate in my life. *g* W.H.'s NC-17, contains graphic violence and rape and self-harm, and you need a box of tissues to keep the keyboard dry.

It's a shame AB has left the fandom as she had several good WiPs going that I would love to see finished, but they're still good reads as they stand.

07. Who was your original OTP? (Be honest guys. Some of us were spuffys) &
08. How or what made you switch to Spander?
I got lucky. I started off with Spander and I've never looked back. They were my OTP before I'd left AB's (now deleted) website, and, despite taking a look at other pairings, I have remained a Spanderette (&tradeliterati) since that first fic, read in November 2003.

09. What was your first Spander fic?
See the answer to #6.

10. What is your all time favorite Spander fic?
I'm supposed to pick one?! Impossible.
Go here -> bloodclaim and look at the list of fic in the right hand column. Thet are some of my favourites. ;o)



spikeswilngslav wrote: "Please post your answers behind a lj cut in your next journal entry. If you want to just write it out in essay form that's cool too. You don't have to give numbered answers. You don't have to post my questions either.(but it would be nice to pass it around and find out from more people) Please post a comment telling me where I can read your answers w/ a link to your LJ please."

So there ya go. ;o)

Comments

[saifai.livejournal.com]

You lucky dog you. Starting out in Spander? I wish.

Also, hadn't realized AB left the fandom. Kinda lost track of her after Immortal Beloved stopped updating. That's too bad.

*moop*

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

You lucky dog you. Starting out in Spander? I wish.

I swear, if I'd read anything else, I wouldn't be here now. They grabbed me by the heart and still haven't let go. I was obsessed, and after 6 days of reading i started writing. o.O

Also, hadn't realized AB left the fandom

I found her journal a while back, and skimmed back through the entries to see when she stopped mentioning BtVS other than to mention to her flist what had been said about her on one of the lists she apparently she still reads. I think i got back to about March before she actually made any kind of statement, and that was to stay that she didn't like the direction in which the show had been taken, and the treatment of Spike annoyed her so much she had to leave. She also said that she did want to put her fic back up 'one day' but would probably have to resist the strong urge to rewrite a huge portion of it before doing so.

I'm not gonna hold my breath for the new site, I'm just glad I saved everything when I found it.

I think she's into skaterbois now, along with ahestele.

[saifai.livejournal.com]

...and the treatment of Spike annoyed her so much she had to leave.

I think a lot of people went through that. I saw a few of the groups I participate on have a sharp drop in membership after Season 6 and particularly Season 7... and never recovered. In an odd twist of fate though, and maybe it's just my own bias, but I've noticed a jump in Slash readership.

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

In an odd twist of fate though, and maybe it's just my own bias, but I've noticed a jump in Slash readership.

Well, I came into the fandom at the tail-end of the Spuffiness that ruined S6 and S7, and will never ever read Spuffy. I was, howver, completely into het until I stumbled onto Spander. Now I need to rebuild my porn collection cos het just doesn't have the effect it used to. *g*

The silly thing is, I loved the Spuffy UST in the preceding series, but never thought it would be actualised, and when it was I wanted to cringe. It just seemed so... wrong.

In my head, the whole mess is due to that spell of Willow's. She messed it up and they never got it properly sorted out. ;o)

[saifai.livejournal.com]

In my head, the whole mess is due to that spell of Willow's. She messed it up and they never got it properly sorted out. ;o)

My thoughts exactly. See? Spander was canon. Or at least, would have been if it wasn't for that meddling witch... *fumes*

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

She must be made to pay for her meddling ways. *g*

Thank you so much for answering & passing it on

[spikeswilngslav.livejournal.com]

Wow! You are one of the lucky ones (starting out spander). I had to go through s/b and several s/b/a not to mention spike/william/female fics before I discovered the rightness that is spander. Actually spike/william fics are hot no matter who else is in the mix. That's actually how I discovered spander. I craved more slashy action, but angel just didn't treat spike right. So I googled spander and fell in love. I've read AB's "Waiting here". Totally with you on the whole heartbreaking, bittersweet, but absolutely love it, fic. I'm glad to know (finally) the reason I could never figure out how to get into "Fangy.net". Although very sad she left the fandom, and that Immortal Beloved won't be updating. *sniffles*
Everyone has been so detailed in their answering. I'm so glad people liked the questions and took the time to reply and/or pass it on. In a couple days, when everyone is done answering, I'll post a link to memories so you can all read them in one place. I just have to figure out how to do that. *rolls eyes at own stupidity* Well thanks again hon. Loved the reply!

Re: Thank you so much for answering & passing it on

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

I *do* consider myself lucky. If I'd stumbled into Spuffy that first day I would never have looked at fanfiction again.

Right, memories. I assume you know to click the little heart icon to add a page to memories?

Well, once you've done that, you can type something like 'Spander Questionnaire' into the box that says 'keywords' and then click save. The next time you add anything to memories 'Spander Questionnaire' should be in the list of keywords you've used in the past, and you can select one or more keywords by clicking on them (hold down shift if you want to select more than one, and ctrl if you want to de-select a keyword).

Once you've added the links, you can go back to your memories page and all questionnaire answers should be grouped together under the keyword 'Spander Questionnaire' (or whatever *g*) and you can copy that page link to the new entry in bloodclaim for everyone to see.

Good luck! And thanks for having the idea. I've enjoyed reading other people's answers. :o)

Memories

[spikeswilngslav.livejournal.com]

Huh that's funny. Those are the exact key words I used (except I misspelled Questionnaire) The only problem I had was how to link back to memories, but if all I gotta do is copy address bar? (that's what you meant by copy page link right?) Then I'm in like flyn. (NOT Riley) I'll also copy/paste those answers that were on comment page to a new entry and add that to memories list.

Oh! and if seeing spuffy would have put you off fanfic? Than WE are the lucky ones. We would have missed out on the wonderful contributions you've made to the fandom. *wipes brown off nose*
Thanks for the memories advice *hugs*

Re: Memories

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

*wipes brown off nose*

So that's what was tickling. *g*

YW for the advice. I hope everything went according to plan? And yes, I did mean copy the address bar.

:o)

[malfoywench.livejournal.com]

I feel so...influential. :) Very glad I got you started, sweetie. The fanfiction world would've really missed out, had you not been interested.

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

Very glad I got you started, sweetie.

Oh, I'm very glad you did too. It's all such good clean dirty fun! *smooch*